[Aditya]

Bigger car from a mainstream brand vs smaller luxury car

If you've had 30 - 50 lakhs in your pocket, you have perhaps already faced this dilemma. Should you buy "more car" from a relatively everyday brand, or a smaller car from a luxury brand? While BHPians discuss the pros & cons, the market appears to have already spoken. Sales of the big 3 German luxury marques have largely been stagnant for ~5 years.

The lure of the 3-pointed star or the white + blue Bavarian emblem is undeniable. However, there is no doubt that the non-luxury marques give you lots more car for the same / lesser money.

Here are some examples:

Ford Endeavour (Rs. 30 - 35 lakh) vs BMW X1 (Rs. 37 - 43 lakh)

Toyota Camry (Rs. 39 lakh) vs Audi A4 (Rs. 42 - 47 lakh)

Skoda Superb (Rs. 32 - 35 lakh) vs Mercedes-Benz C-Class (Rs. 49 - 54 lakh)

Kia Carnival (Rs. 25 - 29 lakh) vs Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class (Rs. 57 - 68 lakh)

Pros of larger cars from the mainstream brands

L-O-T-S more car for the money - Not only are same price mainstream cars larger than the entry level models from luxury brands, but they also give you a LOT more space & kit. They are loaded with equipment and technology that is generally not available on the lower-end luxury cars. You'll also get a 3rd-row of seats and AWD / 4x4 <50 lakhs (try that with a Benz).

Cheaper maintenance - Luxury cars, as we know, are expensive to buy. What is expensive to buy, will be expensive to maintain as well. GTO sarcastically calls luxury car owners as being part of the great rip-off club due to their obscene service, maintenance & repair costs.

Won't grab attention - Those who don't like unwanted attention, should stay away from the luxury marques. We know one such person who happily bought a Ford Endeavour (he had the money for an X3). No one will notice you arriving in a VW Tiguan.

Comfort - Almost all the entry level luxury cars are cramped. There is way more space inside a Skoda Superb or Toyota Fortuner than say, the Jaguar XE or Audi Q3. Chauffeur-driven owners, in particular, would be much happier on the back seat of a Camry than a C-Class. Added bonus = the Camry offers more supple ride quality! The majority of luxury cars have a firm edge to their low speed ride, making bad roads uncomfortable.

Easier to live with - Cars from the mainstream brands are far easier to live with and drive on a daily basis. You won't worry too much about driving your Alturas G4 in traffic or parking it on the streets as you would in the case of a 3-Series. You wouldn't mind offroading in a Ford Endeavour, but you would probably refrain from taking a Range Rover off the beaten path (thanks to 3-lakh rupee headlight costs & 1-lakh rupee dent repairs). We will also state that a mainstream brand's car handles Indian roads far better than the delicate darlings from luxo-brands. God help you if you miss a big pothole at speed in an Audi A6.

Sheer value for money - If you are a value-driven personality, there is a case to be made for cars from the mainstream brands. We call cars like the Camry & Kodiaq to be "value luxury" products. Additionally, the fact is that all the luxury marques overprice their cars (exhibit A = Audi Q2).

Wider service network - In a Tier-2 city like Nashik, you'll easily be able to service your Toyota Fortuner, MG Gloster, Mahindra Alturas G4 or VW Tiguan. But there is no BMW dealer in Nashik. Ask for Volvo and they'll guide you to the bus stand !

Reliability - It's easy to find reliable cars from the mainstream brands. But in the luxury sphere, the lack of reliability is more or less an accepted truth.

Pros of smaller cars from luxury brands

Aspirational value & the badge - Whether you admit it or not, all of us are suckers for the badge. If we weren't, no one would need anything more than a 500-rupee watch that tells the same time as a Rolex. People buy luxury cars because they aspire to own them. Isn't there a sexiness to driving a "Jaguar"? Come on, we've had Mercedes wallpapers when growing up. No kid ever put up a Kia Carnival on his / her wall.

Generally better to drive - Dynamically, RWD cars from the luxury brands feel superior to the FWD ones from mainstream brands. Body control, handling, steering feel, braking and performance of cars from the luxury marques is a level above the mainstream cars. The 330i was built for the autobahn, but not the Fortuner or Camry.

Beautiful styling - We will argue that the luxury labels get their designs absolutely spot on. In particular, Mercedes, Volvo & Jaguar-Land Rover are at the top of their styling game.

Luxurious interiors with top quality materials - The high-end cars use more expensive materials and create a luxurious ambience. Their construction is also premium, as are the cabin refinement levels.

5-star safety & solid build quality - Almost 100% of the luxury cars offer 5-star safety ratings & equipment. That's not the case with all of the premium cars from the mainstream brands. Many of them haven't even been crash-tested.

They age better -Because luxury cars are built to very high standards, they do age very well. Some BHPians own 8 - 10 year old premium cars which look & feel like 2-year old cars! Luxury cars generally use the best part, paint & construction quality available. Another reason they age better is that owners pamper them more. If you had a Gloster and an S60, which car would you take care of more?

Special treatment -Not just 5-star hotels & restaurant valets, you'll see even your professional contacts treating you a bit more special if you arrive in a beautiful luxury car.

[GTO]

Voted for bigger car from a mainstream brand. Reason = cars like the Camry (a Lexus with a T badge), Endeavour (matches many 70 lakh SUVs, especially in the old 3.2L variant), Superb (a 50 lakh car at 35 lakhs) etc. As you rightly said, they just offer so much more car for the money. Conversely, the entry-level luxury cars are grossly overpriced IMHO. I don't understand how & when the C-Class became a 55-lakh OTR car!

Personally though, I'll just spend the 30 - 50 lakhs on a pre-worshipped luxury German with 6 cylinders under the hood. Now, that's even more car for the money than a Camry.

[Archisman]

The comparisons are between very different cars based on prices (not any other factor).
How to compare a Kia Carnival and Mercedes C class when the price is double (almost).

Luxury cars though are class above in terms of snob value and even aspirational value.

[TrackDay]

I voted for Bigger car from a mainstream brand. Why ? Well for me, if I am going the luxury route, I rather have the S than the E or C class. No offence to the owners, but that is how it is with me. With Sedans and SUVs from the luxury brand I would go with the flagship rather than the chopped down lower models. The only exceptions I would make would be for BMW sedans .

[Dr.AD]

I don't think I can give a general answer.

I do not go car shopping with such generic rules in mind. It is always liking or disliking a specific car, for a variety of reasons.

For example, from your list, in the first comparison example, I would choose Endeavour over X1 any day because the Endeavour to me is a true blue SUV with a proper 4x4, and has everything a true blue SUV has. It has the true DNA of a Ford truck! On the other hand, the BMW X1 is a soft roader at best, a FWD vehicle, with no real USP for me. It does not even have the true BMW DNA.

Coming to your second comparison example, I would do the opposite. Here, I would pick the smaller luxury vehicle (Audi A4) over the larger Toyota Camry, because of much better driving dynamics in the A4. Camry for me is a typical family car, and the A4 is relatively a much sportier car.

These are my perceptions and biases, and these could be wrong. But the point is that I have such perceptions of specific cars and I would go with those rather than a generic rule about a larger car from a mainstream brand vs a smaller one from a luxury brand.

P.S. Maybe the poll should have a third option called "It depends on the specific model". I would have voted for that options if it was there.

[speedmiester]

It depends. If one has other cars at their disposal, buying a smaller car from a luxury brand makes sense, else it is better to get a bigger car from the mainstream manufacturer.

Personally I will definitely go for mainstream cars over luxury brands.
I use my cars to the fullest and do not have the time/patience to pamper my cars. I stick to the scheduled maintenance and proactively replace parts before they fail, but I don't want to see my cars in service centers longer than 2 days.

Having said that, I will definitely buy a luxury badge over the next two years and probably a new one over preowned as I want the peace of mind, the warranty and service plans provides. This will be supplemented by a workhorse for everyday use.

[StarrySky]

Value for money is a big deal for me, so I would usually go with mainstream brand. But, this applies when comparing cars in the same price range and it would also depend on my requirements.

So, for eg:, from the first example in the opening post, I am more likely to go with the X1. Why? Being a city-dweller, and one unlikely to go off-road, the smaller X1 will fit my requirements better.

I think the other examples compare cars that have widely different price-points, so the comparison is not so straight-forward. If I have 60L to spend on a car, I will likely end up with a car in that price range. It wouldn't matter if the 30L car is double the size of my 60L car. It's unlikely that I will go for a car that is half the price and be done with it.

[humyum]

Bigger car from a mainstream brand. For me peace of mind, reliability and cheap servicing and parts price are of utmost importance because I keep my cars for like forever.

am okay if it does not go around a corner like those luxury cars or has more engine noise or does not have the top speed as much as the biggies. At least I will keep going in a corner albeit slowly for a decade or two more than the stars and badges.

[saikarthik]

Bigger car from a mainstream brand is simple and smart choice for regular people. So, voted for it.

But one more point with the luxury brands is that it will help you to easily get into some places and events where you find totally a different class of contacts which may help you in your professional life (be it business or anything).

[Sran]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Here are some examples:

Skoda Superb (Rs. 32 - 35 lakh) vs Mercedes-Benz C-Class (Rs. 49 - 54 lakh)

Attachment 2130837

Kia Carnival (Rs. 25 - 29 lakh) vs Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class (Rs. 57 - 68 lakh)

Attachment 2125398

These comparisons doesn't even make sense. Superb is quoted at 35 lakhs while it is made to compare with Merc C class at 54 lakhs. The difference is 19 lakhs, i.e 64% more. Same is with carnival at 29 lakhs vs Merc GLC 68 lakhs, the difference being 39 lakhs, i.e. 234% meaning one more carnival and still having 10 lakhs left.

[EightSix]

Voted for Bigger car from a mainstream brand

However, this is only in terms of the size of the car and what it offers. I can’t digest the fact that compacts are sold as SUVs by luxury brands when I can buy a full-size car for cheaper.

Fact = Brands like Skoda or cars like Camry and Carnival which are average everywhere else are premium in India. The three pointed star has more badge value, but a Superb/Camry/Carnival is enough to annouce your arrival. These cars are also very competent. In GTO’s words these are cars that punch above their weights. (Cars that punch above their weight in India!)

But what they seriously lack is class —— and that’s what sets the mainstream luxury brands apart from them. Case in point - Kia Carnival. Before you hit the “quote” button on my post and write an angry comment about how classy the Kia Carnival is — take a look at the Carnival’s ad —

Sincere note to all viewers — Please do not report my post for a missing article and an improperly punctuated proper noun.

Just look at how they wrote the model name in entirely lowercase letters!

Even a primary school kid can tell Kia that the first letter of ‘Carnival’ should be uppercase.



And did they eat up the article ‘the’ like they eat up the market share of other manufacturers?

[Hayek]

Don’t think I would compare a bigger car from a mass brand with a smaller car from a luxury brand for the same use case.

I did own a Superb - and bought it at a time when my consideration set included the Civic, Accord and Fortuner - luxury brands were ruled out back then since I felt they were beyond my station. Bought an X3 4 years ago - at a time when most of my friends had already upgraded to luxury brands.

While choosing my Vento replacement, I was clear I didn’t want a second luxury car. So while the Carnival and the Tiguan Allspace were in the mix with the Seltos, Hector and Compass, the X1 (which is probably not that much more expensive than an Allspace) was not considered.

More space is not necessarily better than less space - I ruled out the Carnival as too big and difficult to park in market areas. But yes, good to drive matters a lot for me (even for a car which will be chauffeur driven 80% of the time) - and hence Body on Frame SUVs and MUVs eliminate themselves.

Ultimately, a Q2 coexists with a Gloster at the same price point because different people need different things - and that is the beauty of even a restricted free market like the one we have.

[VKumar]

It's a 'Depends' in my case

Bigger car from a mainstream brand, to some extent only. Only if it's a hit product with decent service support. I have very well burnt my fingers twice with this case, once in a flagship Honda, and once in a flagship Toyota. Trust me, if you think service support will be there, then my dear, you are absolutely wrong. No service center at places other than metropolitan cities keeps in stock the spares of the cars like:

• Accord V6
• Superb V6
• Kizashi
• Phaeton
• Toureg
• Even LC200 too

Put that aside, in 2019 we faced the same issue where a particular spare for a Crysta petrol wasn't available in entire state of Uttarakhand, and the service guys were shamelessly telling us that "Sahab yeh gaadi yahaan bikti hi nahi (Sir, this car doesn't sell here)."

And the mechanics of half of these mainstream brands are seriously not the people with whom you would want your premium vehicle to be serviced. Finesse comes at a cost, if you want it, better pay for it.

So, in my case:
Bigger car from mainstream brand charisma ends just at the Fortuner, or in case it's a sales dud from the mainstream brand, just nobody in the entire company wants to support those handful of owners and they have to wait till eternity for spares at times to be imported.

If I am spending over 45 lac, then give me a Mercedes Benz (I love them), at least if I will cry, I will prefer to cry in, and cry for a Mercedes Benz. At least their breakdown support will be better than those of mainstream brands!

[a4_attitude]

To me I don't want to compare Space with money, I would rather save and wait to buy what I always wanted or what makes my happy, I was driving Ecosport from last 6 years because I wanted to buy Porsche one day and don't want to waste my money on what I don't like to own, thus unnecessary depreciating assets, So finally last years I took a long jump from Ecosport to Porsche Macan, To me it's not only about badge, its about design and smile every time I loot at it, it's priceless, for my daily errands I still use Ecosport

[amol4184]

Big mainstream car. I have realized on our roads big, imposing cars get the most respect regardless of the price. Since I'm into scaring people off of the roads I better get big mauler rather than a puny X1.